


Juniper

by Selden



Category: The Juniper Tree - The Brothers Grimm
Genre: Cannibalism, Gen, Horticulture, Murder, Sestina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 00:36:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3916597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selden/pseuds/Selden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bone. Red. Supper. Bird. Mother. Juniper.<br/>Red. Supper. Bird. Mother. Juniper.<br/>Supper. Bird. Mother. Juniper.<br/>Bird. Mother. Juniper.<br/>Mother. Juniper.<br/>Juniper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Juniper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [goddessdster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddessdster/gifts).



Inside her belly grows the juniper

As inside a warm egg there moves a bird

She opens up her mouth for the word mother

The inside of her mouth is very red

She stirs the pot for her dear husband’s supper

Inside it bobs the white of boiled-down bone

 

     My mother is going to kill me

     My father will eat me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Will gather up my bones

     Tie them in a silken handkerchief,

     And bury them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird shall I be!

 

The baby grows around its bobs of bone

The stew tastes thin like bitter juniper

The husband bows his head over his supper

And her smile opens as its wings a bird

The inside of her legs is very red

I’m going, so she says, to be a mother

 

     My mother is going to kill me

     My father will eat me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Will gather up my bones

     Tie them in a silken handkerchief,

     And bury them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird shall I be!

 

Under his tongue he keeps the word my mother

Under the juniper she’s whitened bone

The new wife’s wedding dress is very red

She wears a bright green sprig of juniper

She bears a daughter like a little bird

She bends her smiling head over his supper

 

     My mother is going to kill me

     My father will eat me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Will gather up my bones

     Tie them in a silken handkerchief,

     And bury them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird shall I be!

 

Come in my dear and help me with his supper

A daughter lives to help her loving mother

Her daughter sings just like a little bird

Inside her heart sticks hatred like a bone

Her son sits underneath the juniper

And where he sits the ground is very red

 

     My mother is going to kill me

     My father will eat me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Will gather up my bones

     Tie them in a silken handkerchief,

     And bury them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird shall I be!

 

The smile upon her lips is very red

She calls her dear young husband home to supper

The boy crouches beneath the juniper

She smiles and says, my dear, you’ll call me mother

He smiles at her as white as any bone

A bone as brittle as a little bird

 

     My mother is going to kill me

     My father will eat me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Will gather up my bones

     Tie them in a silken handkerchief,

     And bury them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird shall I be!

 

Her heart is beating like an ugly bird

The apple in the box is very red

She brings the lid down and nips through the bone.

Behind her bloody stew grows thick for supper

She listens as her daughter calls for mother

And outside, evergreen, grows juniper.

 

     My mother killed me

     My father will eat me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Will gather up my bones

     Tie them in a silken handkerchief,

     And bury them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird shall I be!

 

A bitter berry bears the juniper

Its branches bare without a single bird

She smiles as wide as any young stepmother

Her daughter’s eyes are wet and very red

She sits her dear young husband down to supper

He sucks the meat off every little bone

 

     My mother killed me

     My father ate me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Will gather up my bones

     Tie them in a silken handkerchief,

     And bury them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird shall I be!

 

Her daughter carries out the bright young bone

And plants it underneath the juniper

Her husband licks his fingers after supper

And on the juniper there sings a bird

The feathers on its breast are very red

It sings a song about a sharp-toothed mother

 

     My mother killed me

     My father ate me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Gathered up my bones

     Tied them in a silken handkerchief,

     And buried them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird am I!

 

She holds upon her tongue the bright word mother

She holds her daughter, her own blood and bone

The sharp edge of the box is very red

A song comes down alive as juniper

A song from the sharp beak of a bright bird

She bows her head and stirs the stew for supper

 

     My mother killed me

     My father ate me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Gathered up my bones

     Tied them in a silken handkerchief,

     And buried them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird am I!

 

Her voice sticks as she calls out sweetly supper

She hears a voice that says quite softly mother

Her daughter smiles up at the singing bird

She bites down on an ugly little bone

Her blood is bitter as the juniper

The inside of her mouth is very red

 

     My mother killed me

     My father ate me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Gathered up my bones

     Tied them in a silken handkerchief,

     And buried them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird am I!

 

The village under song is warm and red

The people hear the bird sing for its supper

As bright and green as any juniper

She sees the old white smile of that bone mother

They bring it gifts; red shoes, a heavy stone

They lift up gold towards the singing bird

 

     My mother killed me

     My father ate me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Gathered up my bones

     Tied them in a silken handkerchief,

     And buried them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird am I!

 

She hears her death just like a singing bird

The inside of her mind is very red

The stone makes her a thing of wet red bone.

Her daughter calls her brother home to supper

He smiles and sings a song about his mother

A song as bitter bright as juniper

 

     My mother killed me

     My father ate me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Gathered up my bones

     Tied them in a silken handkerchief,

     And buried them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird was I!

 

The bird a boy sits smiling down to supper

The daughter piles up earth on her red mother

And bones grow slowly into juniper.

 

     My mother killed me

     My father ate me up

     My sister, little Marlinchen,

     Gathered up my bones

     Tied them in a silken handkerchief,

     And buried them under the juniper tree

     Keewit, Keewit, what a beautiful bird was I!

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
